


Reckless Behavior

by WritingforTheAvengers



Category: Avengers, MCU, Marvel, The Punisher - Fandom, frank castle - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-21 19:32:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14291874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingforTheAvengers/pseuds/WritingforTheAvengers
Summary: You took the key from under the doormat and got inside. The apartment was deadly silent, and it seemed as if time had stopped inside for weeks. The same weeks that you were out for work. You were a war journalist, and how you met Frank Castle was a strange series of events. It all began when you met Curtis Hoyle for a small story on Veterans helping others to cope with the struggles of a life that was completely new for them, and thanks to him you met Frank Castle.





	Reckless Behavior

You rushed out of the cab and it took you about three seconds to get to the fourth floor of the block Frank lived in. You knew he had done something stupid at work, stupid enough for him to get sent home, which also meant that it was something reckless. He had come back to the construction site where you first met him, and now that he was not the Punisher anymore, you knew he tried to make a living out of a normal life, but for veterans, this wasn’t always easy.

You took the key from under the doormat and got inside. The apartment was deadly silent, and it seemed as if time had stopped inside for weeks. The same weeks that you were out for work. You were a war journalist, and how you met Frank Castle was a strange series of events. It all began when you met Curtis Hoyle for a small story on Veterans helping others to cope with the struggles of a life that was completely new for them, and thanks to him you met Frank Castle.

He conceded you an interview that never came out to the public, but that you still keep in your files. He had such an interesting story to tell, but the world wasn’t ready to hear it. You would never forget the chills that roamed throughout your body when he talked about his family and the reason why he lost them, how he was supposed to die with them too, and how he turned a family vengeance into one of the greatest scandals of National Security that America had seen. With him, so many people talked with you to make a story so perfect that it seemed almost unreal, but it was real. It was just too real.

You had even grown fond of Frank Castle because, despite his deadly stare and potty mouth, he was a gentleman in all aspects and you could say you two were good friends.

But there you were, standing in the middle of Frank Castle’s living room because you were worried. You knew there was something wrong when he said he was sent home from work just a few days ago and that was given a few days off to “take things easy”; nobody sends you home unless you’ve injured yourself gravely, and nobody gives you a few days to “take things easy” unless they were extremely worried about your overall well-being.

You timidly walked towards the bedroom where you found him lying inside the covers. His face was covered in bruises and some skin closures adorned his forehead. He was ashamed, utterly embarrassed that you were seeing him like that. Your heart clenched inside your chest and you were somewhat relieved that he was alive, or breathing. You had seen this before in many other veterans who found in reckless situations the comfort, the hype and the adrenaline of a life that was not theirs anymore. It was a very real thing and it even had its own name. You feared Frank was doing the exact same thing, and that it would get him killed. You were worried, yes, but now you were angry. How was he so irresponsible? Why was he so careless with his own life? He was not worthless, and his life wasn’t either.

“You’re alive,” you bitterly commented. “I thought I’d find a memorial service here.”

“Nice to see you too,” he gave you a side grin. “If it makes things better, I’ve been way worse than this,” he pointed at himself. “These are… just minor scratches,” he tried to shrug, but he had no good shoulders anymore. “I really appreciate that you came, but it was really not necessary, I’m fine, just a bit sore but…”

“Why did you do it?” You asked. “I don’t know what you did and I’m not sure if I want to know, but… why? I mean, what happened in your brain that you had to do something and end up like this, Frank?” You took your hand to your temple and pressed a finger against it.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he looked away and shook his head. “Nobody understands these days, not even Curtis would.”

“He would. Of course he fucking would, dammit!” You yelled at him. “I would understand you too, Frank,” you said in a firm voice. “I know I would, because you know what? You’re not the first person I see doing that. Going all reckless to get their kicks. Just for the sake of it, just to have that little adrenaline rush one more time. The battlefield rush, mmm,” you hummed in delight, “hell, even I get that sometimes when I come back home, but you know what I don’t do? Stupid shit that can get me killed,” your chest heaved. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to be reckless and stupid just because you need some sort of sick entertainment. You know what you have to do? You need to get help, like real help, because this is not normal. Do you really wanna get yourself killed, Frank?”

“Who would care if I die?” Frank asked in a tired voice. He was tired of the life he had now. He hated to admit how much he enjoyed the action, the blood and the gunshots. He wasn’t the type of person who thought about being designed for something, as if some sort of creator made you for a specific purpose, but he often thought about how he always enjoyed the life of a soldier, and he started wondering if he was actually made for that or if time had made him a killing machine. “Honestly, I don’t even think you’d care at all.”

“You don’t get to decide that, Castle,” you only used his last name when you were angry, and you were way past that. “You don’t get to decide who cares about you and who doesn’t, and I think you don’t even realize who would care. What about Curtis? A man that’s been your friend for years and who, at some point, was the only person who knew you were alive after what happened at the pier. What about him?”

“He’d feel relieved that he doesn’t have to put up with my shit anymore,” he growled with such self-hatred that it broke your heart, but not your spirit. Not yet.

“What about Karen? A woman who devoted all her energies to get your sorry ass away from jail, and that helped you clean your name and spread the shit that you were put through? Do you think she’d be relieved to see you dead after all she’s done?” Frank scoffed. “What about Dinah? You fucked up her career for the greater good and she stoically accepted it because she knew you were right. Do you think she wouldn’t be devastated to see you gone? Do you think it’d be worth it?”

“I’ve given hell to both of them, they’re literally better off without me in this world.”

“What about David? What about the story he helped you reconstruct? I mean, if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t have gotten to the bottom of what happened to you and to him. Thanks to him you have a full story to tell, and you told his story too. Do you want his efforts to be in vain? Do you want it all to go to shit? How can you be so selfish, Castle?”

“I made his life a living hell, and his entire family’s too—”

“Those kids adore you, and yes, their lives have not been easy after meeting you, but they see you and they see a hero, and I’m not talking some Captain America shit, I’m talking a real hero. But of course you don’t see any of that because you’re so blinded by your self-induced hatred that you can’t even stop to think for one minute about the people who loves you, right?” You breathed heavily and you felt something that burned inside you. There were so many things you wanted to tell this man and now it was finally the time for all of that. “Yeah, you know what? Just go ahead and kill yourself if that’s gonna get you happy, but don’t expect any of them at your stupid funeral. They won’t be there for a guy who never gave a damn.”

Frank looked at you with his eyes wide open. You saw his chest heaving and his eyes filled with tears. Tears of rage, tears of fear. Of course he didn’t want to die, he just had some dark thoughts every once in a while, but it really hit him to know what people would feel if he died. He knew Curtis would mourn, as he had already done, even when he wasn’t truly dead. And Karen… he couldn’t bear to do that to her again; she was important in his life. Dinah would be furious if he dared to die after giving the fight of his life. David and his family was perhaps the greatest concern Frank had; they all had let him into their lives and welcomed with open arms and accepted him despite his past.

“You don’t get to let people care for you, Castle,” you shook your head and swallowed hard a lump that broke your voice. “You don’t get to let people love you and then just die on them.”

And then it hit _him_.

And then it hit _you_.


End file.
